


In the bay

by myotishia



Series: In the rift [15]
Category: Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-01 05:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18794284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/pseuds/myotishia
Summary: Something old has been slumbering for eons in the bays waters and soon it will awaken.





	1. Madness

Jack Harkness sat across from a woman with short, purple dyed, hair who had a deck of tarot cards sitting next to her drink.

“I felt like a change.” She said, pushing the deck towards him. “I can no longer be certain of my predictions when it comes to you. I believe the young lady who could speak to those, what do you call them? Weevils? She is at fault for that.”

“I’m sure she hasn’t changed anything to do with what I need to know.”

“True.” She pulled three cards from the deck and placed them in front of her on the table. “You know where the creature sleeps but will not avoid its awakening. When it does you must all avoid its gaze, only madness lays beyond its eyes. I cannot foresee the outcome of this battle, but if there is anything that I have learned here it is that you will not allow this place to be lost.”

“Putting your faith in me?”

“I do not deal in faith captain.”

 

Gwen stepped through the doorway of a rather unassuming council house, past a police officer who had been stationed there. Owen was not far behind, pulling his bag onto his back. Inside the carpets were damp and smelled of bay water. It had a unique tang to it that if you worked close by long enough it became unmistakable. A body lay on the kitchen floor. A woman in her thirties with blond hair, her face twisted into a horrified scream, hands wrapped protectively around her swollen belly. 

“Shit.” Gwen breathed. She hated having to deal with cases where one victim wasn’t just one victim. The death of an adult was awful of course, but at least they’d lived some kind of life.

“Nice of them to warn us.” Owen shook his head as he crouched down to get a better look at the body. It had a hole cut into its right temple, a light held up to it illuminated the hollowed out cavern in its head. The body was cold so there was no saving the unborn fetus. If there was any warmth left Owen would have at least tried to save it. 

“What did you find?”

“It took her brain. I can find out more when we get her back to the hub. Any sign of how it got in?”

“The window in the back door was melted through. I’m going to take a look around.”

“Don’t go too far.”

“I won’t.” She walked out into the living room, looking through a stack of post. Most of it was addressed to a Miss Cerys Greenway, presumably the victim, but two were addressed to a Mr Ahmed Carter. It had already been opened so she pulled the letter from the envelope, skimming over its contents. It was a confirmation letter for a wedding reception booking. She hoped the police had already informed the womans fiance, not leaving him without closure. Her hopes were swiftly dashed as she heard a commotion outside. The officer stationed at the door was having to physically hold a man back as he screamed for Cerys to answer. He demanded to know what was happening. 

Gwen took a deep breath and headed to the door to help. 

The man was tall, dark brown hair and eyes that Gwen could swear looked familiar. 

“Sir. Sir, please let me explain.” She began. 

The man took a step back. “Please. Is Cerys ok? Is the baby ok?”

Gwen lead him a little way down the road, away from the scene, sitting down on a wall. He took the hint to take a seat and watched Gwens face. He was shaking and the colour had drained from his face. 

“Are you Mr Carter?”

“Yes! I am. What… What happened?”

“I’m sorry. There was an incident last night and-”

“No. Please!”

“Miss Greenway passed away at some point last night. I’m so sorry.”

He descended into the most heart wrenching cries, his whole world falling away in a moment. “I don’t understand. How?”

She wished she hadn’t improvised so many causes of death that it wasn’t so easy. “We believe there was an accident. She slipped in the kitchen and… She didn’t suffer.”

It didn’t make it better. It never made it better but it was something to hold onto. 

His sobs eased slightly. “She… She… The baby… We were going to... Call her Elise.”

 

Tosh and Elise where hunched over a prototype for the lens 2.0. They wanted to make it a little more inconspicuous as the blue lens was very obvious. Elise had spent the morning connecting microscopic wires for it and had put together a waterproof casing for it. 

“So, do we go clear hipster or full men in black on this?” Elise asked, holding up the frames to the light.

“Full men in black of course.”

“Good choice. Think we could put a HUD on there too?”

“For what?”

“Time? Date? Radiation levels.”

“Have you been playing fallout?”

“Maybe… But being as you have a Geiger counter in your bag it could be useful. Just a few early warning things, you know?”

“I’ll have to make sure it doesn’t become too intrusive. What have you been working on in the garage?”

“Why?”

“Because you won’t let me look and it’s killing me not knowing.”

Elise grinned. “I didn’t want to show you until I was sure it worked. It’s a neural interface controller.”

“What for?”

“At the moment it just controls a little robotic arm but theoretically it could control anything you programmed it to.”

Tosh studied her carefully. “Please tell me you haven’t got Owen performing surgery on you.”

“Of course not. I’m keeping it strictly non invasive. If I can perfect it then maybe it could be used for prosthetics. Full on bionics.”

“You’re thinking big.”

“I’m thinking we’re all constantly at risk and we’re not going to be around forever. Torchwood could do with the ability to replace limbs with the stuff we run in to. We’ve all gotten pretty lucky so far if you think about it.”

“It’s a shame if you complete it you can’t release it to the public.”

“Yea. Who knows, maybe I can find someone to secretly send it to.” She turned, hearing footsteps. “Oh, Ianto. Did you find anything about our sea creature?”

“Unless you want the works of HP Lovecraft no.”

“Can we officially start calling it Cthulhu then?”

“We can unofficially start calling it Cthulhu.”

“Yes!” She grinned. “Though hopefully we have no fish cults.”

“We already have fish men so why not?”

 

Gwen closed up the house once they’d collected everything they needed. Ahmed had left with a friend to keep an eye on the distraught man.

“That sounded rough.” Said Owen, glancing at Gwen.

“It wasn’t easy… Has Elise ever told you anything about her parents?” She sounded quiet, nervous almost.

“Other than they were arseholes, not much. Why?”

“She grew up around here, didn’t she?”

“Yea. What are you getting at?”

“Well, it’s her birthday in a couple of months.”

He smiled. “Gwen we can’t invite her parents to her birthday. I think the universe would collapse.”

Gwen looked out of the window at the roadside as it blurred past. “Owen… The man I was talking to. His name was Ahmed Carter and he told me they were going to call the baby girl Elise. I think he was our Elises dad. Isn't it all a bit coincidental? "

He paused, keeping his eyes on the road. “Elise is white as paper though.”

“So was our victim, anyway I think he was mixed race because he was pretty pale too. Just hear me out. He had her eyes, it was surreal.”

“I’ll find out for certain when we get back. Send Ianto a message, get him to convince her to  leave the hub for an hour or so.”

“So you believe me?”

“I don’t know but if you are right then I don’t want her seeing that. And if that baby in there is this timelines version of her then we could have an even bigger problem.”

 

“So why do you need me?” Elise asked, a little confused.

“My shoulder’s playing up so I need someone to help carry things.” He lied.

“Ianto. Have you forgotten that I saw you carrying three boxes of printer paper this morning as if it was nothing?” She crossed her arms.

He cursed to himself, as he had completely forgotten that. “Well, it started after that.”

“Ianto.”

“I was just told you keep you out of the hub for an hour or so and that it was important. That’s all I know.” He admitted, knowing he’d been caught and there was no point in keeping up the ruse. 

“Why didn’t you just say so?”

“I… I don’t know. I assumed Gwen wanted to keep the reason secret.” He blushed lightly.

Elise shook her head and sighed. “So what do you want to do for an hour?”

“We might as well get lunch, then we could get some more parts for your secret project.”

“It’s not too much of a secret anymore, Tosh knows.”

“Isn’t that better? With her on the team you could have it complete in a week.”

“We’re a team now? Ok… But we need a mascot.”

“I think they sell mini Cthulhu plush toys at the comic shop.”

“You’re a genius.” 

 

Jack smiled at Tosh. “Where is everyone?”

“You’re back. Owen’s with Gwen setting up to autopsy the body we got the report of this morning, and Ianto’s out with Elise to get something. He wasn’t specific.”

“Ianto… Not specific. I smell a rat.”

“Well, he did get a text message just before he asked. If it wasn’t from you and it was work based…”

“Then both suspects are together right now. Thanks Tosh.”

“Any time. If they’re planning something tell them to clue me in next time.”

“I think you’d have better luck getting them to do that than me.”  He wandered over to the autopsy bay. Gwen was lent against the wall looking solemn. Even more than she usually did after bringing back a fresh body. Seeing the bump under the sheet made it clear why. 

“Damn. It’s going to be one of those days, huh?”

Gwen nodded. “I wish that was the worst part.”

“It isn’t?” He got an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“For one, the house was coated in bay water… And two, that might be Elise’s mother.”

His voice softened. “That’s why you asked Ianto to take her out.”

“Owen’s just testing to see if I’m right. I really hope I’m not.”

Jack considered the bump under the sheet. If that was the past version of Elise, alive or not, any contact could be catastrophic. The mother's body would need to stay until the investigation was over but the fetus couldn't. Owen looked grim.

“You were right. You should both go. I’ve got to isolate the… anomaly.” Dealing with babies hit him hard, but knowing who this baby could have grown up to be made it hurt so much more. 

“You sure you’re up to this?” Asked Jack. “I can do this if necessary.”

Owen closed his eyes. “No. I can do it. I’ll use the singularity scalpel so I don’t even have to really face it. What do we tell Elise when she gets back? She’s going to find out eventually.”

“I’ll tell her. Gwen, can you fill Tosh in on this?”

“Sure.” Gwen said softly.

 

Elise had a couple of bags safely tucked under her chair as she glugged half of her drink in one go. “This cough has been killing my throat.”

“I can tell.”

“Being as we have no reports about old Cthulhu think we should send a little submarine drone to take a look? I know there might not be much to see but scoping out the area could be good.”

“Not a bad idea. I did do a little research on the exact area and it’s odd.”

“Yea?”

“It’s been turned into a restricted area recently but I can’t find what for.”

“If we’re lucky maybe it’s just a really hardy coral reef. That would cover the size of the thing.”

“As if we’d be that lucky. I’ll help you build your submarine. We can make a start when we get back.”

“Thanks… Do you ever get the feeling something’s very wrong? Like something really bad is about to happen?” 

“All the time, but I think that’s the job.”

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. “A message from Jack? Need to talk asap. There it is.”

“He’s probably just going to ask you to start on what you’ve already got planned.”

“I hope so. We should go.”

He studied her. “What else is bothering you?”

“I don’t even know for sure. Maybe it’s just the fallout from that death thing. I’ve warmed up but something just feels… Missing.” 

“That’s the depression talking. Have you started talking to anyone yet?”

She shook her head. “I just can’t put anything into words. I’ve tried but every time I do my mind just goes blank so I throw myself into another project. I’ve started making things to help for when I’m… Not here anymore, just in case. My jumps won’t be around forever.”

“Elise…”

“I’m not going to do anything but being that close to death got me thinking, you know?”

“I know. The feeling will pass eventually. Believe me.”

“I hope so. Thanks for listening.”

“You do the same for me.”

“I’ve wondered… Why are you more honest with me than the others?”

He thought for a moment. “You already knew my dark secrets before you got here. I’ve never felt the need to lie. It’s … Nice.”

“They wouldn’t judge you.”

“But I would. We shouldn’t keep Jack waiting. He plays up when he gets bored.”

 

Jack had no idea what to tell Elise. Or more how to tell her. She would find out eventually and she’d be more upset if she wasn’t warned. He steadied himself as she returned.

“Come in. Close the door behind you.” He said gently. 

It didn’t help her nerves one bit. She sat across from him. “What’s going on?”

“The body Owen and Gwen picked up this morning… Did you see the address?”

“No. Why?”

“I know you grew up around here and…”

“Jack, you’re scaring me.”

“The body that was brought in… We believe… Know she was… Your mother.”

She wasn’t sure she’d heard what she thought she had. “My mum?”

“Yes. We thought you had a right to know. I’m sorry.”

“N-no… It’s  ok… It’s not like this worlds version is the same as… As mine… I... “ A tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t know why I’m crying… I hated her...I…”

He didn’t want to continue but he knew he had to. “You can see her if you want to but… She was pregnant… We couldn’t let you come into contact-”

“I understand… Time and space… I-I should see her.”

“You can take as long as you need. You don’t need to push yourself.”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “No. I need to see her. I should just get it over with… Thank you for telling me.” She stood and opened the door, not waiting for permission. Her face was blank but under her eyes were looking red. Gwen had pulled Ianto aside to tell him and she could see them both looking grim. It wasn’t as if anyone else knew the woman that lay on that table but the feeling in the hub was dark. 

Owen was waiting for her when Elise entered. 

“Did-”

“Jack told me… Is that her?”

He nodded. “You want me to stay or…”

“Just… Give me a few minutes. It’ll be ok.”

“I’ll be just outside. Yea?”

She took a shaking breath as she heard him reluctantly leave. She hadn’t seen her own mother in so long, for good reason, but this seemed so final. A shaking hand took the edge of the sheet and carefully pulled it down to reveal the face underneath. Owen had closed her eyes and made her look less damaged for Elise’s sake. 

Seeing that face was a punch to the gut and she felt the tears filling her eyes. She was as she remembered her just… So pale… The feelings crashed over her, grief, anger, sorrow. Every question she’d never get to ask. Everything she’d never get to say. It wasn’t fair.

“Why… What did I ever do to you?... I wasn’t that bad, was I?... I loved you even after you tried to kill me, did you know that? I cried because I thought it was my fault you weren’t home… I can’t even remember what your smile looked like anymore. I was ok leaving my version of you because I thought maybe I could make things better… Maybe this time I could have a chance… Maybe you’d love me… Now, you won’t even get the chance and it’s my fault. In my time you lived… Is that what I had to give up for my second chance? This worlds me had to die? You had to die?... That wasn’t in the contract.” She laugh sobbed. “You’d hate me now for the things I’ve done. I’ve killed people, and not looked back...I’ve become everything you thought I would… And the stupid thing is I still feel the worst because I know you would have felt justified. You … Why can’t I just say goodbye? Why is this so fucking hard!?... Will it make it real? Everything that’s happened?... All I ever wanted was to hear you say sorry and now I never will. You even took that from me. You couldn’t even let me have that!” She crumpled, sobbing like a child into her hands. 

Owen couldn’t stand by any longer. He rushed down and wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry it out. At least it was done. It was over. He covered the womans face once more and led Elise away. She didn’t fight him, just let him sit with her as years of pent up hate drained from her. He wondered if he’d react the same if he’d found his own mother on that table. The liked to think that he’d feel nothing but he knew that was a lie. 

 

Late that night three figures, smelling of the bay and pouring water as they walked, followed a man through the dark streets. He was clearly drunk and staggered as he walked, not even noticing his cloaked stalkers. They reached out their scaled hands and grabbed his shirt. 

“Oi! What the fu-” He began to protest but turned only to see a single eye staring back at him. The sight of what lay beyond that blackness that was the beings pupil made him feel like something was crawling under his skin. Like thousands of insects were trying to eat their way out from underneath. He desperately wanted to claw at his skin and get them out but the figures held him prone. One placed a finger against his temple and began to press. He felt his skin give way and cold blood run down the side of his head. The creature kept pressing with the strength of a power drill, a heat bloomed from its fingertip. Almost like a plasma torch it burned through the bone to leave a hole and access to his brain. He could see them talking to each other in a language that sounded as if they were all drowning and gasping. One pulled away from his head and another took its place, holding out what almost looked like an inside out flower made of stark white bone. It pressed the device into the side of the mans head and finally everything went black. 

 

Owen tilted the bodies head, seeing the same hole in the skull as the last body. Jack was stood back a little, noting the bay water hadn’t fully dried. 

“Same as the last one?” Asked Jack, knowing the answer.

“‘Frade so.” The smell of decomposition mixed with the scent of alcohol rose from the corpse. Bodies that had been drinking before death were usually in a more relaxed state but this one looked just as terrified as the last. It had marks around its arms that looked like human hand prints, left during the fight. He considered the possibility that this had been done by a human with alien technology and that made it worse. You couldn’t just tell on sight what you were after with aliens, but no matter how stupid of a human they could always stay under the radar so much more easily. 

It was best to get the body on ice as soon as possible and other than the water it didn’t seem like anything was left around. It was routine. 

After getting the body into the SUV Owen went back to take one last look. In the space that the body had once been stood a robed figure. The six foot tall being looked painfully skinny, its rope belt wrapped tight. He had just opened his mouth to ask what the fuck this guy was doing there when it turned. The cyclopean, amphibious, creature locked its vision on the Torchwood agent. 

 

All Jack heard was a horrified scream. 

“Owen!” He called as he sprinted back. Owen was curled over against the wall, staring wide eyes at his arms as he was trying to scratch away something that Jack couldn’t see. 

Jack crouched down, trying to stay calm. “What happened?”

“Get them off! Get them the fuck off me!” He desperately begged. 

“Owen! There’s nothing there. Stop.” Jack had to grab his wrists to stop him from gouging the skin from his arms. There were already deep red scratches raising on his skin. He thrashed, terrified, seeing something crawling over his skin. Jack moved only a little to grab the weevil bands to try and get Owen under control, but it was enough for him to get free and punch Jack square in the jaw. 

The captain was done with the soft approach, grabbing Owen in a sleeper hold until he gave up fighting before binding his wrists. Jack had no idea what had just happened but he knew he needed to get his medic out of the line of fire. 

 

Back at the hub Owen awoke and immediately started screaming, unable to scratch whatever he was seeing away from his skin. Jack had sedated him in the SUV but only enough to get him back safely. Tosh had taken blood to see if he’d been drugged but the results came back clean. There was no biological reason why he was hallucinating. What a wide scan had shown was a very weak trace of some kind of psyonic manipulation. 

“What do we do to stop it?” Asked Elise, having never dealt with something like that.

“We retcon him and hope that’ll be enough. If not...Well, we’ll deal with it.” Jack replied, sounding unsure. The human mind was sadly quite fragile. 

Tosh had been trying to keep Owen calm, but had already been brought to tears. Not by anything he’d said to her but by how much distress he was in. She had heard what Jack had said and looked up, trying to keep her voice steady. 

“How? He’s not going to let you give him the pills and you know how unstable the liquid version can be.”

“If I knew another way then-”

Elise piped up. “I can get him to take them.”

“Sweetheart he’s not going to trust you.” Tosh snuffled. “He barely recognises me.”

“No, I mean just give me the pill and some water. It won’t affect me so I can just feed it to him.”

Jack thought for a moment. “It’s worth a shot. Just be careful he doesn’t bite you.”

She dropped one of the pills into what was essentially a shot glass full of water and hid it behind her back. She lent over her terrified boyfriend. 

“Owen. Look at me.”

He continued to fight his restraints before making eye contact with her. “Help me.” He begged.

“I am. I just need you to focus on me and only me.” Her voice was steady, soothing. “Just look into my eyes, ok? We’re going to fix this together. Understand.”

“Ely… Please get these things off me.”

“I will.” She pressed her forehead against his. “I’m the only thing here, ok? Just close your eyes and listen to me.”

His breathing was ragged and he was shaking but he did as he was told. She tipped the shot into her mouth and held his face, forcibly kissing him and giving him no other option to swallow the drug or choke. He was still frightened of what looked and felt like insects trying to burrow their way in and out of his skin, but it was a distraction. Something familiar to keep his mind on. She pulled back, resting her forehead back on his. 

“It’ll be ok. I promise.”

“What… What did you just…”

“Keep your eyes closed. Breathe slowly. Just listen to me, nothing else. Everything’s ok.”

“But I can f-”

“Nope. Nothing there. Just my voice. Everything’s ok.”

His heart rate had slowed significantly, no longer rushing through his head, and he’d stopped fighting. “Ely?... I don’t feel… Don’t feel right.”

“I know. I’ve got you.”

“There was a thing… One eye… Web hands… Sounded … Like drowning…”

“It was just a bad dream. Go back to sleep.”

“I was dreaming?” His words were starting to slur.

“Yea. Just dreaming. Go back to sleep honey. It’s fine.”

“I… I don’t…”

“Shhhhh. Sleep time.”

He tried to say something but slipped into unconsciousness before he could. 

Elise stood back and felt Tosh take her hand. 

“How did you remember all that?” Toshiko asked, drying her eyes. 

Jack watched them both. “Remember what?”

Elise smiled softly. “That’s what she does for me when I have nightmares.”

She blushed but found it very romantic that Elise had managed to remember what she said even though every time she’d heard her she’d been in a half asleep state. 

Gwen peeked around the door nervously as everything had gone quiet. “Is he ok?”

Jack nodded. “Just going to be out for a while… You know, if I was immune to that stuff, retconning people would be so much more fun.”

She blinked, knowing she was missing some important context. 

Elise lowered her voice. “We should all go. You know he’s just asleep right now, right? The retcon hasn’t taken full effect yet.”

 

The cyclops was not impressed about being interrupted while hunting for its meal. The other two, that had been with it, had eaten and returned to their slumbering master. It hated that it had to hunt in daylight as it knew how easily it could be discovered and it wasn’t sure how strong these humans were. They evidently could not handle the wonders that their master filled them all with but that did not mean they were helpless. It moved into its hiding place as it heard movement. A man carrying a sleeping bag and a backpack peered round into the quiet area. He hunkered down under the slight overhang from the building above, wrapping his arms around himself for warmth. The cyclops saw its prey and stepped out, looking down on him with its singular eye. The human looked so small and barely even fought while it worked. The humans brain tasted wrong somehow. Something inside it made the creature feel unstable and weak. Had it been poisoned. A tarlike fluid ran down from the creatures gills, bubbling and foaming as it poured down onto the concrete.

 

Owen slowly awoke feeling groggy as hell. He couldn’t remember if he’d been drinking but he didn’t think he had. His arms felt sore, both on the skin level and the muscles. First thing was to work out where he was. It didn’t smell like home. Did he fall asleep at work? It wouldn’t be the first time but why. What had he been doing? He opened his eyes, squinting at the light. He moved to rub his eyes but found himself restrained. 

“Morning.” Said Jack, silently relieved that Owen hadn’t immediately started screaming. 

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Something happened. Don’t try and remember.” He began releasing the belts from Owens wrists.

It wasn’t the first time that this situation had happened but it was the first time it had happened to Owen. “Right… Did I hurt anyone?”

“Only my pride. Is anything out of place around the room?”

It was a simple check if someone had been hallucinating. “Looks all clear other than the shot glass on the side over there. That bad?”

Jack smiled. “Yes, but it’s not mine.”

Owen looked down at his arm once he’d sat up, seeing multiple deep scratches running across his skin. “Fuck.” He flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders. “Haven’t felt this shit in a while.”

“I’d brace yourself.”

“Huh? Wh-” He was cut off by Tosh wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Hi. I’m ok.” He smiled, leaning his head back to look at her. She looked so happy but he could tell she’d had to patch up her makeup at some point. “I didn’t make you cry did I?”

“Just… Shush. You know I can’t say anything.”

“Tosh?”

“Yes?”

“My arms are killing me, fancy loosening your grip?”

She immediately let go. “Sorry. Sorry.”

 

Gwen rinsed off her hands. She’d been helping Elise and Ianto in making the aquatic robot they were going to use to scope out the area where ‘cthulhu’ had been identified. The frame had already been bolted together and Elise had stopped to compare a few sets of rotor blades. 

“Owen’s awake and apparently he’s fine, if a bit sore.” Said Ianto, reading the message Tosh had sent. 

“That’s a relief. I don’t know what we could do if it hadn’t worked..” Gwen dried her hands and sat on one of the side tables. 

“I’m sure Jack had a plan B.”

“Still. The thing that did that is still out there.”

“Hopefully not for much longer. Tosh has been putting all of her energy into digitally mapping every move it could have possibly made. Apparently they don’t know what cameras are.”

“If there as old as we’ve been told then I’m surprised one hasn’t been hit by a car yet.”

“Cars are noisy.”

“I guess… Elise, aren’t you happy? I thought you’d want to go and see him.”

Elise didn’t turn. “I’m very happy and I do but… I’m just running through scenarios in my head.”  

Gwen and Ianto looked at each other shrugging. 

“Like?”

“Owen can’t examine our latest victim just in case it sets off a memory and even if we do get one of those things in he can’t examine that either. That’s one man down. I can’t go out there and help because the retcon treatment won’t work on me, meaning two men down. If those things start getting brave then we could have riots on the streets as people lose their minds and that’s just from these smaller creatures. We still don’t know anything about the sleeping creature other than it’s huge and alive. I can’t just time jump back because I don’t know how these things do what they do and I could be walking right into the line of fire. If I knew what to avoid I could go back and stop it happening, making it so we still had Owens skill set available.” She lent in the table, head down. 

The mood of the room fell. They could both see what she meant and it was bad news. 

“We have at least partial footage of them. Maybe we can figure out how their ability works from context. It’s better than just throwing away the idea completely.” Ianto suggested. 

“I’m up for anything. If I can stop Owen having to go through that, remembered or otherwise, then I want to try.”

 

Tosh brought up all of the camera angles she could of the creatures that just looked like walking cloaks from what they could see. Even brightened the footage of the drunk man was hard to decipher. The creatures grabbed him and mobbed him but that was all that was visible. The only footage from where the body was picked up was corner shots from two separate cameras. Tosh had spliced them together, leaving only a black bar in the centre that she had no coverage of. Gwen, Ianto and Elise watched over Toshiko’s shoulders as the footage played. They saw the creature come out of hiding and Owen enter the area. He seemed fine until the creature turned of which point he reacted as if he were suddenly on fire. 

“Medusa.” Ianto mumbled to himself. 

Gwen turned. “What?”

“She turned people to stone when they looked at her. If she was covered or seen in a reflection it didn’t work.”

“But we can see it on the video.”

“The camera works like the mirror. It filters the effect.”

Elise pointed at the still of the creature. “Can you zoom into its face and clear it up a little?” 

“I can try.” Said Tosh, clicking at a few shortcuts on her screen. The image zoomed into the beings cyclopian form and the computer began translating the blurry image into something much sharper. The eye itself was horribly distorted.

“Ianto you genius. You’re right, they’re gorgons. It the eye that causes the effect. I can work with this.” Elise grinned. 


	2. From the water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is running out.

Owen hated moving bodies. It was never as clean as tv made it look, the same as death. On tv people just go to sleep and it’s all very gentle and clean. In reality the human body was perfectly made to start rotting, every muscle relaxing to empty itself and start the process. It was efficient but disgusting. At least the body bag kept the smell, among other things, contained. One last sweep of the area then he could go back and see what he could find with this guy. He turned to head back when someone barrelled into him. Getting his balance he was going to go off at whoever it was until he saw who it was.

“Elise? What are you doing here?”

She stopped, catching her breath. “Sorry… Jumped but wasn’t sure… about terrain… Had to run from… familiar place.” 

“Why?”

Jack watched on, just as confused about her sudden appearance. 

“Don’t go back there… Gorgon waiting…”

“Gorgon?” Jack asked.

She took a deep breath to settle herself. “If you make eye contact it makes you hallucinate violently.”

“Did you time jump here?”

“Yes. Just one second.” She pulled a can from in her bag and headed towards the original scene, stopping just out of sight of what she knew would be there and threw the can. It rolled for a meter or so before exploding into a shower of water and silver. The gorgon screeched, clawing at its eye and throat as black ichor foamed from its gills. Before she’d jumped back in time they’d received the report of a dead creature. The homeless man it had targeted had been in a car crash years before, a silver piercing being shot into his brain. It couldn’t be removed due to where it had ended up but seemed to have no lasting effects on him. When the gorgon had ingested it the creature began having a massive allergic reaction that killed it in seconds. 

She took a hand mirror from her pocket and scanned the area, finding it safe as the gorgon had fallen face down. 

“And safe.” She lent back against the nearby wall, placing her bag next to her. 

Owen stood next to her. “Who died?”

“No one, but there are more damaging things than death out there… Are you afraid of insects?”

“In large numbers who isn’t? What’s all that?” He pointed at her bag.

“I bring gifts. But first we need to grab tall dark and gooey.”

 

Owen had hit an early hurdle when trying to open up the gorgon. He’d taken precautions and taped the creatures eye closed but that didn’t help that the thing had some kind of armour plating underneath its cloak. Even a saw made for cutting bone hadn’t been able to scratch it. He’d resorted to using a hammer and chisel just to crack the creatures chest plate. If that didn’t work he’d have to bring out the laser cutter and that was a pain.  He was finally making progress, cracks forming in the thick layer. He finally pulled a square of the plating away and realised why it had been so difficult. The shell was seven centimetres thick and he hadn’t managed to work out what the dense casing was even made of. Inside, the gorgon seemed very similar to humans with the major difference being a binary respiratory system. It didn’t have teeth which explained why they were feeding on grey matter and why a tool of some kind was used to blend the brain. 

 

Toshiko recognised her own work on the flash drive Elise had given to her. A detailed map of Cardiff was shown on her screen with routes that the gorgons took highlighted, all other potential routes they could use and how to minimise their movement. It also had a finalised schematic with a few extra notes for the lens 2.0 design including a fail safe for dealing with the gorgons psyonic attack that turned the lenses completely black. It would leave you shielded and give you the chance to escape with your sanity intact. It also contained a copy of the blueprints that Elise had drawn up for her aquatic robot. In the corner there was a little doodle of love hearts asking for Toshikos help programming it. The final document on the flash drive simply said, “What is Cthulhu holding?”

She looked down at the little Cthulhu plush she’d been gifted. Its little arm nubs were hidden behind its tentacles so she hadn’t seen anything on them. There was a tiny silver chain wrapped around its little arms and a heart shaped pendant sat between its tiny hand nubs. She unwrapped it and slipped the delicate chain around her neck, smiling brightly to herself. 

 

It took a week to complete the aquatic robot. Testing and triple checking the waterproofing on the electronics made it take longer. It looked a little like a large metal fish with arms and multiple eyes. For movement it used a typical controller but Elise hadn’t mentioned how she was planning to control the arms. Once in the water it made a few test turns before heading out. The wide view from the camera gave a clear image of what it was swimming around and the bright lights illuminated the area nicely. It sped past the local sea life and dodged past debris as the bottom. It was approaching the area fast when something blocked its way. A fence? 

“What now?” Asked Gwen.

“We break in of course.” Elise pulled the neural controller from inside her bag and placed it on her head, plugging a wire into the controller. The arms of the robot activated and flexed then grabbed onto the mesh wire of the fence and pulled it apart. “Dexterity is tough to control manually. This is easier.”

“When did you make that?” 

“My time off, but I did have help. Secret team for the win.”

Tosh giggled and Ianto smiled to himself. 

Past the fence the robot continued forward, finding what looked like a giant drill. That was bad news. It headed up to find out what the drill was for or what company owned it. A sign on the base of the drill said ‘Proteus Industries’.

“This says Proteus industries is an experimental energy production company. I didn’t find anything about them when I looked into the area.” Said Ianto, more than a little annoyed that he hadn’t found them before.

Jack lent on the back of Elise’s chair. “Can you shut the drill down?”

“I can try.” She drove the robot around the drill, looking for any kind of weakness in the design. It was well made and showed little sign of vulnerability. It didn’t help that the drill was running so she couldn’t just try and damage the drill bit without damaging the robot. On another circuit of the area something moved below. A humanoid creature had risen from under the silt and approached the drill. It brought up its giant, crablike, pincer and tried to take hold of the drill, making the machinery grind and whine. With the drill slowed to a near stop a set of large bolts became visible. She sent the robot over and took hold of one of the bolts, removing it and letting it drop  before moving onto another. As the last one dropped someone shut off the drill. The crab creature was no longer alone. Six of them were attacking the drill. The firsts pincer looked damaged so while they were busy Elise sent the robot down to grab a chunk that had fallen away, just moving as the creature tried to bring down its other claw on top of it. 

“Bring her home, I don’t think the locals are fans of your work.” Said Jack, standing back from Elise’s chair.

“Will do.”

“Tosh, I want everything you can get on Proteus industries. Gwen, you and me are going to give them a little visit.” 

 

The drilling complex was mostly under the water, hidden from boats going by. Jack had decided that he needed to stop what these people were doing as soon as possible with the risk of waking what was down there up. The small boat slowed to a stop next to the small dock above the drilling platform. He was surprised that no one was there guarding the place. 

“Shouldn’t there be someone up here?” Asked Gwen, peeking inside the door. 

“There should. Be on your guard.” He walked forward into the room that had a security office to the right that looked like it hadn’t been used in some time. The small monitors were all off and there was a layer of dust on the desk. There had to be people working down in the complex to be drilling at all but there was no sign of anything being delivered to the place in a while. A set of metal steps led down to the floors below. The layer of dust continued down for three floors before there was a sign of recent movement. 

There was movement in the far corner of the room and Jack was about to announce his presence when he realised what it was. A gorgon was staggering around, its eye removed and eyelids stitched closed. He felt sorry for the poor creature. 

Gwen shielded her eyes.

“It’s ok. It’s blind.” He said softly.

She looked at him before looking over to the creature that listened for them. It tried to walk towards them but only managed to stagger and fall. 

“I kind of feel bad.”

“You’re not the only one.”

Gwen moved around the pathetic form and towards the next set of steps. She hoped there wouldn’t be any more of the creatures going forward, though it proved one thing. The actions of this company were not accidental. They had to know that something was down there.

“Tosh, let me guess, the web site’s a front.” Jack said into his earpiece.

Tosh sighed. “How did you know?”

“This place looks partially abandoned and they have a blind gorgon down here. Have you found any accounts?”

“A few. They’ve bought all the heavy machinery through a fake business account, but the platform itself was originally owned by the government. It was a military installation until 1982 when it was decommissioned and abandoned. Since then there’s been some debate as to who actually owns it.”

“So, they’re industrious squatters. Any idea how many?”

“Going on the records for boat hire to the area you’re looking at around twelve. That is only an estimate as if it’s not recorded then I can’t find it.”

“This is becoming too risky, these people probably aren’t going to listen to reason. Ok, we’re moving onto plan B.”

“Please remember to get out of range this time.”

“I will.” He tapped his earpiece to switch it off before pulling something from his coat. It looked like a simple metal disk that was wider in the centre and tapered at the edges. He placed it under a table, out of sight. “Let’s get out of here before they realise.”

“What is plan B?” Asked Gwen.

“Modified EMP generator. They’re going to need to replace anything electronic if they want to keep drilling. We can set it off remotely once we’re far enough aw-” He was suddenly cut off by a jagged blade sticking through his chest. Gwen had to push down her shock and pulled her gun as Jack fell, the blade pulled away. The Man holding the bone blade looked half starved and quite unhinged. 

“You! You were the ones that stopped our drill, weren’t you.” He hissed.

“Put the knife down!” 

“And let you sacrifice me to the monster? Never!”

“We’re not working with the thing down there.”

“Lies! You stopped our weapon. We will kill the monster.”

“You’re just going to wake it up. Please, put the knife down. We’re not here to hurt you.”

“Wake it up? No, we are going to kill it!” A walkie talkie at his belt crackled to life.

A female voice emanated from the small box. “What’s going on up there?”

“Intruders. I’ve dealt with one of them but this one says she isn’t with the monster.”

“Oh dear god. Let me deal with this. I’ll be right up. Don’t you even think of hurting anyone else!” She sounded a bit more sane than this man at least. 

Jack would come back soon and if this guy thought they were sent from the monster that wouldn’t help. A skinny, middle aged, woman appeared in the stairwell. 

“Darren! What have you done?! Downstairs, now!” She ordered. The man holding the jagged blade skulked away past her. She immediately bent down to check on Jack.

“Oh thank god he has a pulse.” 

Gwen bent down next to her, holstering her weapon. “I think it was just a scratch. What’s going on?”

“I’m Doctor Francesca Hall. I’m a marine biologist. My team and I broke into this place because it was the perfect place to observe the native sea life. We’d heard about possibly undiscovered species living here and… Things have gone mad ever since.” She sighed, pushing a grey hair behind her ear. She stood as Jack looked around and sat up, looking down at the hole in his shirt. Gwen offered her hand to help him up. 

Dr Hall continued. “I’m sorry. They’re not in their right minds. One of the members of our team wanted to collect samples of the earth to see if it had any unique properties and we started getting an odd powder substance up from the drill. Everyone who breathed it in has fallen to this madness. They have become violent and paranoid towards outsiders.”

“You have to stop drilling.” Said Gwen, hoping she could come to a peaceful resolution.

“I agree but they’re obsessed with using it to kill what they think is down there. I’ve had to leave them to it just to survive.”

“How many are there?”

“Six. Some were killed when they first came into contact with the powder, others died during infighting. Two have died of starvation… You have a boat. Can you get me out of here?”

Jack nodded. “If you help us shut down that drill permanently, we can get you safely back to dry land.”

“Deal. Let me do the talking and I can get you into the main control room. There must be a way to shut it off from there.” 

 

Dr Hall walked ahead as they entered the first fully occupied room. The gathered people all looked weak and malnourished, some unable to stand under their own power. Darren stepped forward still holding the bone blade.

“You brought them here? He was dead! I killed him!” 

“Oh shut up Darren. You can barely stay awake most days, what makes you think you could stab anyone. It was a scratch, sit down.”

Darren grumbled, glaring at Jack, and sat down in an old metal chair.

“They’re here to help us kill whatever’s down there. It couldn’t stay unnoticed by the government forever. Let me show them the control room and how far we’ve gotten.”

“How can you be sure.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“The monster can manipulate anyone, even you. I want proof.”

The doctor looked over her shoulder, trying to hide her nerves. Jack and Gwen both pulled out their Torchwood ID’s to Dr Hall’s relief. “See? Now, let me take them to the control room.”

Daren huffed and walked away, mumbling to himself. The others just went along with their unelected leader, choosing not to argue the point. One man, holding himself up on a walking stick made of old piping beckoned them down a hallway, past six huge generators that kept the place powered.  A thick cloud of fumes hovered near the ceiling.

Beyond a metal door was the control room, a mass of screens and dials that likely made sense to the engineers who worked on it  but to anyone else it just looked like a mess. Dr Hall walked over to one of the monitoring screens.

“Here’s how far the drill has gotten. It’s diamond tipped but it takes days to shave off even millimetres. Whatever they think they’re attacking isn’t going to feel a thing. I’m starting to suspect they’re drilling to get more of the powder.”

Gwen looked over at the display. “How long have you been here?”

“Six months… When this drill stops they’re all going to lose their minds and no matter how weak they look when they’re in that state…”

Jack was studying a console to the left of the doorway. “We’ll deal with that… What happened to the creature upstairs?”

“I mentioned I wanted to study one and that was what they brought back. Its eye was missing before I came into contact with it. It won’t go back into the water and won’t venture any lower so it’s been left there.”

He turned two dials and pulled a key from the top of the console. “Time to go.” 

An alarm blared above them and he headed for the door. Gwen cursed to herself and followed, basically pulling the doctor along behind her. The other people manning the station immediately attacked. Jack barrelled through the man who’d been holding the metal pipe like a walking stick minutes before, now wielding it like a bat. The pipe hit the floor with a loud clang. The captain didn’t want to have to kill them but they’d already proven that they didn’t have the same feeling about murder. Once back on the mainland he could arrange for them to be rescued and given the help they needed, but for now it wasn’t his circus and they were not his disturbed monkeys.  

Darren stood in the stairwell brandishing his bone blade. Looking at it more clearly it had once belonged to someone else. Possibly their thigh. It had been carefully carved and sharpened into the weapon that Jack had felt pierce his heart. 

“Get out of the way. I don’t want to hurt you.” Jack shouted over the blaring noise of the alarm. 

“Give me the key! Give me the key and go back to the monster.”

“For the last time we’re not working for that thing!”

“You were dead. Humans don’t just come back from the dead!” He was technically right. They didn’t. 

“You aren’t well. You need help.”

“I need that damn key!” He lunged at Jack with the blade held tightly in his hand. Jack grabbed his wrist and twisted, the blade dropping uselessly to the floor, a loud crunch heralding his newly broken arm. He swung with his left, slamming his fist into the side of Jacks head harder than the captain had thought possible looking at the man. He saw stars but hadn’t let go of Darrens broken arm yet and pulled, bringing the shorter man to his knees. There were cries and shouts from the far end of the hallway so Jack waved for Gwen to go ahead before letting the mans mangled limb go. The gorgon was curled up in a corner making a gurgling and whimpering noise. Gwen took the doctor ahead and got her into the boat as Jack hung back, putting the creature out of its misery with a quick bullet through the eye socket and into the brain. He dragged it up with him and pushed it into the water once he reached the dock. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about going back to deal with it before the other services could be sent in. Gwen had already untethered the boat and Jack took a flying leap on board as the crazed group tried, and failed, to follow. Without the key the mechanical parts of the drill were useless. Just to make sure the thing couldn’t be hot wired once they were far enough away he set off the EMP generator, plunging the underwater base into darkness and silence. 

 

Owen had confirmed that the crab creatures were closely related to the gorgons genetically and in theory had the same violent reaction to contact with silver. He hoped that the giant version would be the same but he couldn’t pin all of his hopes on that. The plating was essentially bulletproof giving the creatures very few weak points to target. The main one being the eye. The eye they couldn’t directly look at without losing their minds. At least on a live specimen. The effect was no longer active on the gorgons eye that he’d removed. The pupil itself seemed to have an almost kaleidoscopic look to it. Like a mix of oil and crystals on water. It definitely had a low level hypnotic effect when light was shone through it but nothing like what it could do when it was part of a living gorgon. He hope that there weren’t many more of these things but he couldn’t be sure of much at that moment. 

“You all done down here?” Asked Elise from the doorway.

“For now, what can I do for you?” He asked, dropping the pen he’d been playing with onto the worktop.

“I want to test something but it has a huge risk of going very wrong.”

“Then don’t do it.”

“The most I could lose is a bit of skin.”

He rubbed his temples. “What is it you want to test?” 

“When I space jump I usually take whatever I’m touching with me, right?”

“Yes.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“But I don’t take the whole world with me so I was wondering if I could choose what I take with me.”

“Aaaand?”

“And if I can then technically could I jump part way through something, live and jump out.”

“Not a chance. Being able to choose what you jump with is one thing but mixing yourself and any item on an atomic level is a no go.”

“I’m not going to go and just jump into a wall Owen”

“Still no.”

“Just a few layers of skin.”

“No.”

“I’m going to try it anyway.”

“Elise!”

“Just thought you’d want to be close by if it goes bad.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Already thought about it.”

“I’m pulling rank here. No. I’m not letting you. There’s doing something reckless and there’s that. It’s not happening.”

“You’d do it if you were in my position.”

“That’s not the point! You can get yourself killed doing shit like that.” 

“How?”

“That’s the type of thing that could end in you having a stroke. It’s not worth it. I’ll help you with the first test but only if the second is off the table, permanently.”

“Fine. Deal.” She knew it was just because he was worried about her safety but it was still annoying when usually he was the only one she could convince to go along with her curiosity. 

He tossed the pen to her. “Try and jump, but leave that behind.” 

She concentrated on jumping and tried to leave it behind. Two jumps and it was still in her hand. “Damn it.”

“Looks like you’ve found your limit.”

“I was sure I could do it.” She frowned in deep disappointment. 

He sighed and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her middle. “Try just jumping the pen instead. If that doesn’t work then I promise I’ll cook tonight.”

“Ok.” She said a little less enthusiastically than she had been before. She tried to concentrate on the pen and then on the table where it needed to go. At worst she’d end up standing on the table. She closed her eyes and suddenly found her hand a little lighter. The pen landed on the table with a click. “It worked.”

“There you go. And now I don’t have to cook.” He smiled and planted a kiss on her neck.

“Depends on how this afternoon goes.”

“Oh?”

“Didn’t Tosh tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Big daddy gorgons heart started up about an hour ago. I don’t think we’re going to have too long until it’s awake and then... Who knows. Normal weaponry won’t make a dent if the small gorgons are anything to go by and I’m not sure how much even our best stuff will do. If we could get something inside it to kill it we could maybe have a chance.” The pen from the table reappeared in its original position before it had been space jumped, clattering to the floor. “Damn it.”

“Is that why you suddenly wanted to test this?”

“Kind of. I thought that maybe I could jump and leave some kind of explosive inside it but… That didn’t work out.”

“We’ve still got plenty of options. This isn’t my first eldritch horror fight. We’ll get through it.”

“When did you turn into the optimistic one?”

“It’s a bit easier when your girlfriend can time travel. We could go all groundhog day and spend the rest of time having fun for just today.”

“I suppose… I kind of hoped I’d at least get to celebrate one birthday with you.”

“Birthdays are overrated. Anyway, we haven’t given up yet.”

 

Jack pulled off his coat, annoyed that it would have to be repaired again. He looked quite the sight with all the blood soaked into his shirt.

“Any other signs of life out there?” He asked, pulling his shirt away from his skin uncomfortably.

Tosh looked up and jumped at the sight before pulling herself back together. “Yes and no. The main creature hasn’t moved but there’s a lot of movement under the water. I think we might have a lot of gorgons heading towards land.”

“Can we start pumping the colloidal silver into the bay?”

“It shouldn’t dilute too much to prevent it killing them.”

“Set it off whenever you’re ready. Once they start dying off I’m sure the big guy’ll make an appearance.”

“You have a plan?”

“Don’t I always?”

She didn’t look convinced.

 

The bay water seemed to boil, black foam rising to the surface. The people that had been left in the underwater base had been retrieved by the navy so it was thankfully empty when it began to flood and sink, the ground underneath it beginning to move. The waves crashed towards the shore as the gargantuan creature stood. It towered over the landscape, greenish grey skin reflecting the bright afternoon light. 

   

In the hub alarms began to blare.

Tosh looked over at Jack who had been trying to find something to bring this monstrosity down. “It’s trying to pull open the rift. It’s calling more gorgons through.” 

“Try and keep it stabilised the best you can.”

Her screen showed a representation of the rift and small fractures were spreading like a spiders web. Owen was trying to help but their rift manipulator wasn’t as strong as the monster.

Gwen was making calls to have half of the city evacuated. She’d been at it for a while but she’d moved on from asking to ordering. If anyone was around they were going to die, no ifs, ands or buts. Thankfully Rhys was in France so he would be out of danger.

Ianto had locked up and retreated down into the main hub, as the tourist information office had already started to flood and something that didn’t speak like a human had started to attack the weak looking outer door. He didn’t even want to think of the state the place would be in afterwards. 

“Have you seen Elise?” Asked Jack, stopping Ianto in his tracks.

“No. I thought she was down here.” 

“So did I. I need her robot and she’s the only one who knows its control system. We should be able to attack the thing from underneath.”

“I’ll find her.”

“Thanks. I’ll be arming up the robot for when she’s ready.” 

Ianto knew it wasn’t like Elise just to disappear when things were chaotic. There were a few places she could be and two of those could be ticked off the list. She wasn’t at her desk and she wasn’t with him. That left the garage, unlikely, the archives, also unlikely, and at the back of the autopsy bay where Owen could sometimes be found napping. Bingo.

“Elise, Jack needs you to pilot Ariel.”

She was sat, hunched over looking pained. “I’d love to… But I can’t see right now.”

“What?!” He knelt in front of her. “What happened?”

“It’s the rift. It’s being damaged and it’s causing a huge fucking migraine. Painkillers won’t help so I’m pretty much useless.” She said through clenched teeth, thumbs pressed to her temples. “She’s really easy to pilot. Just like a computer game. Shoulder buttons on the right control elevation, the ones on the left are acceleration and breaks. D pad changes direction. The controller is on my desk.”

“What about the arms?”

“Just put on the controller headband. You’ve seen me use it. It’ll be fine.”

“But-”

“Ianto. No one else can do this. Ariel I can rebuild. I can’t rebuild the city.” 

 

Jack was getting antsy waiting. The longer he waited the closer the creature got to the shore and the more damage its growing army could do. 

“Elise can’t pilot it so she’s told me to take over.” Ianto said, a little unsure of himself.

“Think you’ll be able to do it?”

“We don’t have a choice. What do I need to do?”

“We just need to deliver a little present to the thing. If we can plant a bomb underneath it I’m hoping it’s going to be soft enough to take damage. If not it should at least slow it down.”

“Is she ready to go?”

“Yea. I hope Elise won’t mind that it’s not going to be coming back.”

“She can rebuild Ariel. She can’t rebuild the city.”

 

The titan made its way forwards, ordering its army towards dry land. Hoards of gorgons waded through their fallen brethren, climbing their way up and towards the buildings. No amount of glass windows or wooden doors could stop their assault but an opposing army could. Out of every sewer access point climbed gangs of weevils. They howled out a war cry before charging, unaffected by the gorgons eyes. They attacked with teeth and claws, aiming for the gorgons throats and soft tissues around their faces. The normal gorgons didn’t stand a chance but their crablike brethren were significantly stronger. Their huge pincers cut through the weevils flesh like butter. 

Under the water, Ariel shot past the growing number of gorgons, metal pincers wrapped around a fist sized device. Ianto was trying to be as careful as possible so not to set off the ballistic payload it was carrying. The titan walked slowly on hundreds of fleshy tentacles, gripping onto the soft silt and random debris to move itself along. He had to pilot Ariel around the sea of writhing appendages, having to slow down just to stay in one piece. The robot slid deeper into the darkness and rose up to try and get to the main body of the creature, narrowly avoiding getting crushed. 

“I don’t think I can push her much further.” Said Ianto, concentrating fully on the movement of the robot and keeping the bomb gripped between its clamps. 

“Send it right up and we’ll just hope it does enough damage.”

 

A boom resonated through the water, a mix of black ichor, water and huge pieces of gorgon shell fell to earth after being thrown into the air. Some of the smaller gorgons were pulled instantly back through the rift to where they’d come from, others were distracted enough by the death of their master to be overwhelmed by the weevils who were letting out every bit of pent up aggression they’d been holding onto since being ordered to leave the city. 

Below, the dam wall shook as the shock wave hit the hub. Everyone froze, fearing that they could all be crushed under a torrent of water at any second but nothing happened. The wall held strong. The alarms had finally stopped and though the rift had a few new fractures spreading out but it had stopped growing. It was stable for now. All movement in the bay had stopped, other than the settling waves.

Owen slid down in his chair. “This clean up’s going to be a bitch.” 

“Just be happy to be alive.” Tosh chided with a smile on her face. 

“And not chewed on by a huge fish creature.” Gwen grinned. 

Ianto placed the controller back on Elises desk, not quite ready to go up and check on the office yet. That could wait until the coast was confirmed to be clear. 

 

The weevils dragged their kills back to their subterranean homes leaving only bits and blood behind. Some was washed away by the ebbing waves and others by the evenings torrential rain. They knew there had to be gorgons left out there, having escaped, but for now the streets were silent. Washed clean. Soon to be forgotten if Toshiko’s misinformation campaign had anything to say about it. An unseasonable storm mixed with illegal filming for a high budget film was much more believable than a Cthulhu like figure rising from the waters after eons of slumber. Human minds were excellent at modifying their own memories when given a line of logic to follow, even if the logical route wasn’t what really happened. 

 

Ianto went to check on Elise who hadn’t moved since he’d left her. She had her arm resting over her eyes.

“How are you feeling?” He asked softly, not wanting to make her migraine worse.

“Better than I was. You killed Cthulhu.” She smiled weakly, not moving her arm. 

“I suppose I did… Sorry about Ariel.”

“She fell for a good cause. I’m a proud robot mama.”

“Can you see?”

She pulled her arm away and squinted at the light, blinking to try and clear her vision. “It’s blurry but yea. Makes me worry what would happen if anything else tried to climb through though.”

“Don’t think about it. That’s one of those worst case scenarios.”       

 


End file.
